Vegetarian Chili With Sweet Potatoes (Instant Pot)

My friends, get ready for some awesome vegetarian chili with sweet potatoes made in the Instant Pot.

I am happy to share that this is the first Instant Pot recipe on the Buttered Veg blog. Believe me it will not be the last, because after using mine just once I have become a raving convert.

(For those who don’t have an Instant Pot yet, there’s also instructions for making vegetarian chili on the stovetop.)

Man, oh man, does the Instant Pot ever make a good chili. It’s just the type of recipe the machine was designed to cook.

And it is so easy! After 5 minutes of sautéing you simply throw all the ingredients into the pot and hit a button.

Thirty minutes later when you’re ready to serve dinner, you’ll have a hot, perfectly seasoned pot of vegetarian chili ready to go.

This chili is rich with lentils and kidney beans, which are high in vegetarian protein and fiber, nutrient-dense sweet potatoes, and loads of flavors.

I especially enjoy the variation of the smoked paprika in this recipe, which gives the vegetarian chili a slight meaty taste.

When combined with the oregano and cumin, the robust overall flavors really shine through as individual notes.

What Is Vegetarian Chili Made Of? 

There are many different variations of vegetarian chili you could enjoy.

One amazing characteristic is that a vegetarian chili is extremely low in fat. If you don’t count any toppings, this one has a single tablespoon of olive oil in the entire pot.

Of course, most vegetarian chilis have some form of protein, such as beans, lentils, or textured vegetable protein (TVP) made with soy, but you could also make one with just vegetables.

Any type of bean or lentil can be used, such as pinto beans, black beans, cannelloni beans, red beans, black-eyed peas, and so on, but most chilis will have at least some kidney beans in it.

These days there are also veggie ground beef products on the market that look just like beef.

If you want to try using veggie beef, you could add it together with the sautéed garlic and onions during the first step of this recipe, and skip the lentils and kidney beans.

Next, I feel that garlic, onions, and green pepper are an important base of vegetables for a vegetarian chili. Canned tomatoes are essential as well.

As far as additional vegetables go, in this recipe we add in sweet potato, but it is also common to include zucchini, red bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, mushrooms, and/or celery.

For the spices, Mexican chili powder was basically designed for American chili and Tex-Mex foods.

The thing is that Mexican chili powder isn’t spicy like a regular chili powder because it’s made from a small amount of cayenne pepper, mixed with a large amount of other spices, like paprika, oregano, garlic powder, cumin, and sometimes salt.

Naturally, if you don’t have Mexican chili powder, you can substitute with the individual spices I just listed, which are, by the way, also part of this recipe.

What Do I Eat With Vegetarian Chili? 

As you will see in my photographs, I enjoy sautéed greens with my vegetarian chili.

Why? Because there is a good amount of sweet taste going on with the beans, lentils, sweet potatoes, and cooked onions.

Then, all my suggestions for the toppings—

any combination of cheddar cheese, green onion, sour cream, diced tomatoes, avocado, minced cilantro, and lime

—represent the sour and pungent tastes. And there are already sour and pungent tastes in the chili from the tomatoes and spices.

So I felt like the bitter taste was missing. That’s where the sautéed greens come in.

It might surprise you that I advocate for bitter greens, but if you try it, you will see what a difference it makes to the overall experience.

I’ve written before about my principle of flavor creation that says that the very best experience comes from getting all Six Tastes into your meal.

You guessed it. Bitter is the one that’s usually missing.

The photo shows broccoli rabe, which is a particularly bitter green. 🙂

You don’t have to go that far down the bitter spectrum. Start with spinach and cooked green onions, Swiss chard, kale, or collards.

Finally, a vegetarian chili makes for a pretty hearty meal on its own, especially with some fancy toppings.

However, you might also enjoy it with bread or garlic bread, and/or a green salad.

How Long Is Vegetarian Chili Good For? 

The idea of cooking up a big pot of chili is appealing for families and meal preppers alike.

It promises to make a large amount of nourishing food that’s full of flavor for current, and future meals.

The great news is that chili lends itself very well to storing in the fridge or freezer. The flavor may even improve after a day.

Vegetarian chili with sweet potatoes can be refrigerated for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 3 months.

Be sure to label whatever you put in the freezer so you don’t forget about it. You’ll be thrilled that you have an instant meal later.

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